Sanitary device for telephone mouthpieces and earpieces



Jan. 18, 1955 E. P. KORN 2,700,075

\ SANITARY DEVICE FOR TELEPHONE MOUTHPIECES AND EARPIECES E Filed on. 18. 1951 44 E a 20/ Ft A 0 rn INVENTOR.

BY I ATTORNEY United States Patent 2,700,075 I SANITARY-DEVICE 'FOR'TEEEPHONE MOUTHPIECES AND EARPIECES Estol P. Korn, Houston, Tex.

Application October 18, 1951, Serial No. 251,869

2 Claims. (Cl. 179-185) This invention relates to a sanitary device for telephone mouthpieces and earpieces, and more particularly to a device adapted to fit over a telephone mouthpiece or earpiece and having means therein for the dissemination of vapors of a disinfecting substance.

The invention has for its chief object the provision of an attachment for application to the mouthpieces and earpieces of telephones, whereby the same may be kept in a clean and sanitary condition thereby substantially reducing the possibility of the transmission of infectious disease from one user to another.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a sanitary cover device for use on mouthpieces and earpieces of telephones, which device is adapted to contain a supply of disinfecting material, and to disseminate such material for a prolonged period of time, whereby the instrument may be continuously maintained in a sanitary condition.

A further object of the invention is to provide a sanitary cover for the mouthpieces and earpieces of telephones, which is easily applied and removed from the instrument and which presents no substantial interference with the normal operation thereof.

The invention also contemplates the provision of a cover for the mouthpieces and earpieces of telephones, which is of generally shell-like character, having means for spacing an inside portion of the cover from the instrument to which it is attached, to form an internal recess adapted to contain disinfecting material, and also having openings through which such material may be disseminated to maintain the instrument in a sanitary condition.

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention will best be understood from the following detailed description, constituting a specification of the same, when taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a side elevational view of the invention, showing the same applied to a telephone;

Figure 2 is a bottom plan view of a telephone instrument showing the mouthpiece and earpiece of the same with the sanitary devices of the invention applied thereto; and

Figure 3 is a fragmentary view, partly in cross-section, showing a portion of a telephone, as illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, with the invention applied thereto.

Referring now to the drawings in greater detail, wherein like numerals of reference are used to designate the same parts throughout the several views, the numeral indicates generally a telephone, which in the present illustration may be of the French type having a mouthpiece 12 and an earpiece 14, connected by a handle portion 16, by which the instrument is supported in a cradle or base 18 when not in use, as best seen in Figure 1.

In telephone instruments of this type the mouthpiece and earpiece are customarily provided with annular screw caps, such as those indicated at 20 and 22, which caps have openings 24 and 26, through which the sound may pass. Such caps are frequently provided with an external annular groove, such as that indicated at 30 in Figure 3 of the drawings.

The invention, as presently illustrated, takes the form of a casing or shell-like cover 32, of generally annular configuration, having an outer annular wall 34, and an inner annular wall 36, which walls are joined at their outer edges by a smoothly curved annular connecting wall 38. The outer wall 34 extends beyond the inner wall 36, and may be provided with an internal annular rib 40, adapted 2,700,075 Patented Jam 18, 1955 'to' be received in the groove 30' of the cap' 22' to retain the-device securely in po'sition'over the cap. Tli'e' inne'r wall 36 preferably has its inner edge extended i'ri'wa'tdl'y to a sufiicient distance to bear against the outer faeeor the cap to space the portion 38 outwardly away from the cap when the rib 40 is seated in the groove 30, in order to provide an internal annular recess 42 forming with the cap a compartment within the device to contain a disinfectant material. A pad 44, of suitable material, such as felt, or the like, may be disposed in the annular recess 42 to absorb and retain a supply of suitable disinfectant material, and a series of spaced openings 46 are provided in the device, through which the disinfectant material may disseminate to maintain the device in a sanitary condition.

The device may be formed of suitable material, such as plastic or the like, and the outer wall 34 is of a diameter and sufliciently yieldable to enable the device to be readily applied over the cap 22, and to hold the internal rib 40 in the groove 30 to prevent the device from becoming displaced once it has been applied. The internal rib 40, may, of course, be omitted when desirable or expedient and the outer wall 34 made of a size to closely fit the cap 22, and to grippingly engage the cap to be retained thereon by friction. The diameter of the wall 34 may be varied to conform to different sizes of mouthpieces or earpieces, and the diameter of the inner wall 36 may likewise be varied in accordance with the size of the area in which the openings 24 and 26 occur, as plainly indicated in Figure 2 of the drawings.

Any suitable disinfectant material may be employed in the device, and such material may take the form of a solid or liquid, and when in the form of a liquid may be introduced through the openings 46, by means of a medicine dropper or the like, to saturate the pad 44.

It will be apparent that the invention as described above provides a sanitary device, which is of simple design and inexpensive manufacture and which is easily applied and securely maintained in place on the instrument, and which will be eifective to disseminate disinfecting materials and maintain the instrument in a sanitary condition for a prolonged period of time.

While the invention has been disclosed in connection with a specific embodiment of the same, it will be appreciated that this is intended by way of illustration only, and that the configuration of the article and its proportions, as well as the material from which it is fabricated, may vary in accordance with the particular type of instrument for which it is designed, without departing from the spirit of the invention, or the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus clearly shown and described the invention what is claimed as new and desired to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A sanitary device for telephone mouthpieces and earpieces comprising an annular shell having inner and outer walls, the outer wall being engageable over the outside of the mouthpiece or earpiece of a telephone having an outwardly opening annular groove therein, an internal annular rib on the outer wall engageable in said groove, and said inner wall being engageable with said mouthpiece or earpiece inwardly of the outer wall to form therewith a compartment for the reception of disinfecting material, said shell having openings communicating with said compartment for the dissemination of said disinfecting material therethrough.

2. A sanitary device for telephone mouthpieces and earpieces comprising an annular shell having inner and outer Walls the edges of the walls being joined at one end of the device by an outwardly curved connecting annular wall, the outer wall extending beyond the inner wall at the other end of the device and being grippingly engageable with the outside of the mouthpiece or carpiece of a telephone, said annular portion having an external annular groove therein, an internal annular rib on the outer wall positioned to enter said groove, the

inner wall being engageable at its free edge with the mouthpiece or earpiece inwardly of the outer wall to form therewith an annular compartment, said shell having openings in said connecting wall in communication with said compartment for the dissemination of disinfecting material from said compartment, and means in said compargent for the retention of a supply of disinfecting materi 7 References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Gluck n Nov. 24, Elboz Feb. 13, Bochicchio et al. Jan. 10, Mayer Aug. 2, Kent July 22,

Faltz July 28, 

